Snow doesn't stop pancake racers

Tuesday was a snowy and cold day in Liberal, but that didn't stop the 64th annual International Pancake Race from taking place. All morning long, city street crews were hard at work using blow torches to melt and dry patches of ice along the race course. The race has never been canceled due to weather and this year was no exception.

Tuesday was a snowy and cold day in Liberal, but that didn't stop the 64th annual International Pancake Race from taking place. All morning long, city street crews were hard at work using blow torches to melt and dry patches of ice along the race course. The race has never been canceled due to weather and this year was no exception.

Winning the Liberal race was Caitlyn Demarest, 27 with a time of 64.3 seconds, but her time wasn’t fast enough to beat the racers in Olney England. Devon Byrne, 19 not only won the race but set a new record with a time of 56 seconds. The previous record was 57.5 seconds, which was set by Tasha Gallegos of LIberal in 2009.

Byrne won the race last year as well.

Running runs in the Byrne family. Her mother won the race three times, in 1988, 1989 and in 1993.

Other Pancake Day results

Other events were held throughout the weekend in preparation for pancake day. On Saturday, the pancake flipping contest where contestants must flip a pancake as many times as possible within a time limit took place.

Here are the winners:

Division I (ages 7 and under) Contestants had one minute to flip

First place: Anna Maria Pepa, 7, with 51 flips

Second place: Celia McGloud, 7, with 38 flips

Third place: Josef Pepa, 6, with 34 flips

Division II (ages 8-13) Contestants had two minutes to flip

First place: James Hammel, 11, with 177 flips

Second place: William Limon, 11 with 145 flips

Third place: Carson Gilmore, 9 with 144 flips

Division III (ages 14 and up) Contestants had three minutes to flip

First place: Joe Denoyer, adult, with 329 flips

Second place: Teresa Childress, adult, with 268 flips

Third place: Beau Fick, 18, with 266 flips

The pancake eating contest was also held Saturday. In this contest, contestants must eat 5-inch pancakes in the shortest amount of time.

Here are the winners:

Division I (ages 7 and under) Contestants must eat one pancake. The winning time was not available for this division.

First place: Seth Linder, 5

Second place: Kai Skinner, 7

Third place: Josef Pepa, 6

Division II (ages 8-13) Contestants must eat three pancakes.

First place: Sean Stephan, 10, with a time of 1:06

Second place: Spencer Linder, 10

Third place: Alana King, 8

Division III (ages 14 and up) Contestants must eat five pancakes.

First place: Kelsey Childress, adult, with a time of 30 seconds

Second place: Dustin Frederich, 17

Third place: Enrique Franz, adult

Childress also won the pancake eating contest in 2011 and 2012. His time this year is 13 seconds faster than his winning time in 2012.

The pancake cooking contest took place Saturday as well. Contestants could create any kind of dish they wanted to, as long as it included pancake batter somehow. There were sweet dishes and savory dishes.

Page 2 of 2 - One age division, open to those 12 and older

First place: Bethanie Popejoy- Sausage, spinach and pancake cups

Second place: Melissa Johnson- Banana pancake cupcakes

Third place: Donna Walker- Applenut coffee cake

A talent show was held on Monday where contestants showcased their best talents. Winners were awarded trophies and cash prizes totaling more than $2,000. Here are the winners.